Casino Run

That's what we did for my birthday yesterday. I left the house with zero money and came home with $50. But, Mike gave me $13, so I really didn't win much. The good thing is, I didn't lose anything. That's the beauty of free play. I won a little at High Winds, Buffalo Run, and The Stables. Three places that don't usually pay out a dime. For me, that is. Actually, this was the first time I've ever been in High Winds, but I've heard bad things about them from others who have gone and lost right away. The little building in front of Buffalo Run let me play a long time on $10, but I still walked out with nothing. Mike let me finish out one of his games and it would not go down to zero! He'd only put $3 in it to begin with, and it would get down to .20 cents then hit again back up to $3. He finally made me cash out at $3.60 because it was getting late and we still had to stop at The Stables and Buffalo Run. We got to visit with Diva's husband a while. He came up and told me that I could hit the jackpot if I wanted, he'd let me. Thanks, Paul! I only wish it would have happened.
The Lucky Turtle, nada (and in record time, too, I might add), Eastern Shawnee, zilch ( I did play for longer there, at least) Travel Plaza, zip (it was gone pretty quick, too), and Miami's smallest big casino, nothing. Mike won $45 there, though. I haven't gone to Grand Lake yet because they offer free play the whole month of your birthday and not just the day of. I might try to go there some night this week. They pay $20, too, instead of just $10 like all the rest. Maybe I'll win there, you never know. But, if not, oh, well.
According to a lady at my church who is from Belize, and has never lost her accent, I am now turdy tree years old. Yesterday was my turdy turd birthday. Happy Turdy Turd, Stace!

Blah

I think of things I may want to post about, even going as far as mentally composing. But, once I get in front of my computer, all that witty knowledge or snarky comment is gone. Nothing. My head goes empty.
So, I will be brief. Shael started school. I stood in line for over an hour for a $25 school supplies voucher (was it worth it? not sure). We went to Wal-Mart to buy her school supplies only to find that Wal-Mart didn't have squat in the school supplies area. I was not happy. Shael was wise to keep her mouth shut and her body close to mine.
That's it. I'll try to be more personable next time.
Ta!

Search Me

Okay, some of these keyword searches make sense, like pro dodgeball hanes and meka leka hi. Even the Larry the cable guy I apologize pygmy tribe. But, what's up with K-mart men girdle (must've been that girdle story with Christy..LOL) and ounces in a pitcher (again)? And I surely don't remember ever saying Ziggy Zoggy (Oy, Oy, Oy). My wedding day story must've been where I'd started my period came from. The greatest mystery remains....Where the HECK did hot wife filled to overflowing come from? I should go ask the wise owl, who would probably tell me "The world may never know".

Sometimes I wonder About Me

You know, sometimes I ask myself some weird ass questions. The other day, Shael kept trying to take a picture of the baby I was holding while he was asleep and I told her not to. I don't like pictures of babies while they are sleeping because they always look dead in the pictures and it creeps me out. Hello....Haven't you ever seen The Others? But, that got me to thinking about dead bodies. I've heard that after the life leaves a body, the nerves will continue to jerk occasionally, like a chicken with it's head cut off. I have also heard that when a body dies, the bowels relax therefore the body soils itself as a last ritual. I've seen dogs do this and I'm assuming that people have done it, too. That's like flipping the world the bird. Yes, I've died, but I'm leaving one last shit for someone to clean up.
Now, here's my question. Is it possible for a body to belch or fart once it has died? What if a person had beans or cabbage as a last meal and had real bad gas when they were in that fatal car crash? What if a man had downed a big, semi-warm Dr. Pepper before killing over from a heart attack? Does that air some how find a way out or does it stay in the body? Does it absorb into the blood to be drained out of the body at the funeral home? What would happen if you slapped a recently dead woman on the back? Would she belch like an overgrown baby?
These are questions that plague me when my mind is left out alone, free to explore the strangest thought. It reminds me of that bumper sticker I once saw. I'm not suffering from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Brother Leon's Song To Me And The Rest Of GCC

There you are
Questions filling your mind
Reality hits you
As emotions unwind
I know sometimes
It’s so hard to understand
Trust me when I tell you
I’m in better hands

(Chorus)

‘Cause I’m dancing with the angels
I’m walking in new life
It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen
With the angles
Such beauty fills my eyes
Now that I’m dancing with the angles

Quite whispers of how it used to be
You say, “How can anyone
Ever take that from me?” (Oh yeah)
We live in a falling world
We cannot deny
But just wait until you see
What I see in my eyes (Oh yeah)

(Chorus)

Only here for such a short time
So stand up, shout out
Sing hallelujah
For one day, you’ll see me again
And we’ll be dancing with the angles
Walking in new life
Like nothing you’ve ever seen
With the angels

With the angles yeah
With the angles
(Angles)

What is my temperament?

You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything.You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life.You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you. Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace.You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life.Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times. At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you.You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others.You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

What Temperment Are You?

There's Daddy down at the stomp grounds Monday afternoon. It was hot hot hot!

That's the Long House in the background.

Only One More Day

Shael goes back to school and even though I still think it's stupid, I'm always ready for her to be gone 10 hours a day. No, school doesn't last 10 hours, but she does leave for school by 6:00 every morning. Mike takes her to my parents house on his way to work where she catches the bus to school at 7:52. On Mondays and Tuesdays she gets off the bus at my parents house and Mike stops and picks her up on his way home. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays she gets off the bus at the beauty shop and Mike still picks her up on his way home from work. Mike gets tired of it sometimes because he has to be a responsible parent and pick her up every day when some days he'd rather go do his own thing after work. Some days he calls me and asks me to pick her up and I'm okay with that, just not every day because I have to go all the way to Wyandotte after work to get her when he drives right through Wyandotte on his way home. And some days he picks her up and drops her off at the day care with me. Now summer break is almost over and we'll be getting back into this groove. Doesn't seem like it's been very long that we got out of this groove.

I had my mouth set on a grape sno cone after work today. When I clocked out, Shael and I drove on over to the stomp grounds to get us one and lo and behold, the sno cone stand was closed. They were closed all day yesterday, too. I guess they only open up at night. They could make a killing if they opened up during they day when it was super hot. Seems kind of crazy to me. The person running it must work or something. Instead of eating purple-iceous sno cone goodness, Shael and I walked over to the game of Indian Football and watched the excitement for a few minutes until they were made to take a water break. Let me give you a brief rundown of the brief set of rules for this game. This game has been played during the days of Green Corn since the very beginning of Green Corn, I'm sure. It's a little home made pig skin ball about the size of saucer that they play with. The boys are only allowed to kick it like a soccer ball, they can catch the ball with their hands but have to immediately drop it on the ground and kick it. They try to kick the ball to their goal for a point. This girl told me today that the boys were told that if they played rough that they would be made to wear an apron and play for the girl's side. Now on to the girls, the girls are pretty much free for all. They can kick the ball, catch the ball, run with the ball, throw the ball, pass the ball across the entire field if they want. They can be rough, they can kick, scream, bite, scratch, tackle. And boy, do they do all of those. You've never seen such rough playing than a game of Indian Football. Those girls throw themselves on those boys, tackle them to the ground at a full run. All with no pads. Some don't even wear shoes. The dust flys. The girls can do anything, except win. The only "rule" is that the boys have to win. Sounds unfair, doesn't it? But, the girls make it satisfying by beating the living crap out of those boys. I am so not kidding. It seems every year theres either a broken bone or a dislocated shoulder or something. Stitches are quite common as are strains and sprains. Most often the boys, too. The girls mainly get bruised shins from the boys kicking at that ball and broken, jagged fingernails from all the scratching and gouging. I have never played, too rough for my taste.
But my sister.
Her and Indian Football went together like peas and carrots.
Peas and carrots.

Green Corn

Well, Green Corn is well on it's way. The peach seed game begins today. Probably in about an hour, to be exact. Tonight, Tuesday night, is my favorite night of Green Corn. They leave the lights on and have all kinds of fun dances to watch or to dance in. Any time I invite someone to Green Corn, I always invite them for Tuesday night. Once you get past the boring ceremonial where the women stand in front of the singers and sway back and forth for what seems like hours, things get a little more exciting. There's the lady's choice, kind of self explanatory, the one where at the end the singer yells and slams down the turtle rattle and the dancers yell and run out the ends of the Long House (that use to be my favorite, even when I foolishly was standing at the end of the Long House and got plowed) and my personal favorite is the one where two women link arms and walk backwards to the beat of the rattle until the song changes and the rattle goes fast then you run forward and run under the arms of the men who have their arms linked. It's kind of a challenge because sometimes you get right up to the men when the song and the beat changes and the men put their arms down and the women have to start going backwards again. My sister and I danced this one together a couple years ago and it was so fun. You can hear the people laughing all through the camp.

We left at 11:00 when the stomp dancing was in full swing. Mike goes with me every night, so when he gets home in the evenings, he always tries to squeeze in a nap so he's not dog tired. I don't get that luxury, but then again, I can sleep in until 8:00 whereas he has to leave the house by 6:00. So, I guess you could call that my nap, sleeping nearly 3 hours longer than he can.

I bought me a pair of silver earrings last night and when I got home, I discovered they were just like the ones I already had. Go figure. They are somewhat different, the ones I already had are hoops with a turtle charm dangling off it, and the ones I got last night are just the turtle charm. But the charm is identical. I knew I should have bought the stainless steel ones, they were a different turtle altogether. Or even the carved rock turtles, they were even more different. Only at Green Corn can you see a sign that reads "Clan earrings" and know that it doesn't mean KKK. I'm from the Turtle clan, hence all the turtle earrings I now own. I have four pair now. And by the end of tonight, I might own even more. It's also why I have a small collection of turtles, it's very small, only three strong, but one of them came from my Grandma Stovall, one of the few items of hers that I have in my possession. And, it's also why I have a tattoo of a turtle on my heel. I just can't get enough of them, can I? Any time I see a turtle on anything, I'm always attracted to it. Mike's riding buddy, Mitchell, who happens to be my first cousin and also a member of the Turtle clan, has turtles all over his bike. When I saw this really neat, really pretty clay turtle necklace last night, Mike said "Hey we should get that and put it on the bike". I just looked at him and smiled. As far as I'm concerned, he's an honorary member of not only the Turtle clan, but of the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.

These are the ones I made for myself.

It's Over

Man, is it hot out there, or what? Too hot to be standing around outside waiting on Indian Time to pass to get the ceremony over already. But, finally, my brother and his little Nikolas have their Indian names. Last year I got there at 1:00 because the year before when I got there at noon, nothing even got near started before 1:30. When I got there at 1:00, both Emily and Sydney had already been named. I was so upset! By 1:00! So, today, I got there at noon, and they pulled the old trick on me again. It was probably after 1:30 before they started doing anything today. Anything! I stuck it out and got to see both of them get named. No pictures are allowed in any ceremony or I would have taken a pic to post. But, I did get a picture of them before, Nikolas in his cute little moccasins and everything.
Once they were both named, my sister and my mom and I went to the casino to grab a bite to eat. I was so hot, I'd forgotten a bottle of water and the water there tastes like it's straight out of the lake. Well, that's because it is, just cleaned up a bit. It's clear, but that's all I can say about it. But when you are thirsty enough, you will even drink lake water. Once there, I dried out somewhat, my whole body was drenched with sweat. We did some visiting over our lunch then came on back to the stomp grounds. They were still ceremony-ing, actually, they were just starting the dance that the new namees are suppose to stay and dance in. Brub and Nik didn't dance, they left right after they got their names, too. Shhhh....don't tell Auntie Susie.
I saw the chief at the casino. He was eating a few tables away from us. Since there were only three tables occupied, it was kind of hard to ignore him. But, I did, I sat in the chair that put my back to him. Poor Mom faced him the whole time. But, she's not intimidated by anything. She's more intimidated by snakes and spiders that slither on the ground than she is by the snakes and spiders that walk on two legs.
We got back to the stomp grounds at 4:10, or something like that. I felt kind of bad when I realized that I'd just eaten lunch and Mike was probably somewhere close to getting home and was going to be wanting to eat supper soon. Oops. And since he cooked for me yesterday, I feel a little obliged to cook for him tonight. It's just him and me again tonight. Shael went home with my brother this time. That's okay. Even though it's been a week since she's spent the night in her own bed, I'm alright with that. She only has two more summer break days left so, why the heck not live it up?
This is so weird, I've never seen school start the same week as Green Corn before. That's not right. Why do they have to start so early? It never use to. My birthday is the 15th and it never started before my birthday my entire 13 years of school. I think my first day of Kindergarten was on my birthday, but that was it. After that it was always around the 20th through the 25th. It seems stupid to me. They start it so early then they give them every Friday in April and May off because of the lack of snow days? Why not start later and if you happen to have a snow day, make them up at the end of the year like civilized people? Starting school on August 10th is STUPID. I don't know how many people agree, but, frankly, I don't give a damn. (It's taken me a lot of years to develop that attitude, please don't take it away from me)

This Is The LIFE

Today must've been deemed "pamper Stacie day" because I've hardly done squat all day. Even though I was dog tired this morning when I drug my lazy bones out of bed at 7:30, a mere 4-1/2 hours after going to bed, I resisted the urge for a nap today. I did manage to sew my other shoe today, I got something accomplished, at least. When I got home from church, Mike cooked me a lunch of a couple heat-n-eat burritos then we went to the casino for the $7500 drawing. We didn't win, of course. We never do. But while we were there one of my cousins told me that they were passing out t-shirts and $20 free play down at the stomp grounds. We took off for the stomp grounds but by the time we got there it was too late. Oh, well, Mike and I still had $10 each in free play from the coupons they sent us in the mail.
We went to Grove to get the bike's battery checked at O'Rieley's then Mike went to the, drum roll please, To The Grocery Store! The best part is, I stayed in the car while he went in to buy potatoes and I was still sitting in the car when he came out with five grocery sacks, each one full of stuff. And yes, he remembered the potatoes. We stopped at Braum's and we got ice cream cones to go. Yummy, they were so good. In my air conditioned car while it was 108 degrees outside. 108! That's crazy.

We came home for a very uneventful afternoon. I sewed that other shoe while Mike took the nap. I chatted on line with a friend for a while, something I don't get to do very often anymore. She cracked me up, she told me she'd been watching TV for 6 hours. Seems she'd come across a couple pirated videos. Cars and Ant Bully. I've never known anybody to actually watch bootleg versions of movies before. When we were talking about it, I felt like I had been transported into a Seinfeld episode. She said the camera got bumped once and they were watching the movie with only half a screen. What a hoot. I didn't realize people really did that.

I think I need another drum roll, here, Mike cooked supper. He grilled steaks, baked me a sweet potato and heated up a can of corn. Oh, and he opened up a carton of cottage cheese. Service with a smile, I tell ya. The only thing I did today was make tea.

Since we didn't cash in our $10 free play coupon earlier in the day, we went back to the casino around 7:45 to see if we could win anything. I had to go wash my hands first thing and when I came out of the bathroom, a cousin of mine was standing there at a machine. I stood and visited with him for quite a while then went and found Mike. He was still playing with the same $10. He said it would go up and back down. I asked him which machine he recommended and he pointed one out to me. I sat down at it, put my $10 in, and cashed it out at $30.75. Since I hadn't come in with any of my own money, that was pure profit. Yay, me! (That was a tank of gas, and when we left, I promptly went to Giter Done and put gas in my car with it.) Mike was still playing that $10 and I asked him if he wanted something to drink so it would give me something to do and not be tempted to put that $30 back in. On my way to the fountain drinks, I heard my name being called out by three women simultaneously. I looked over and there sat three of the Aunts. I sat down and visited with them for like a minute before Mike came down looking for me. It seems that his $10 went quickly down the tubes once I walked off. So, he pulled up a chair and we stayed and visited with my Aunts Laurie, Deana, and Shine for about an hour. I got more visiting done there than I did at the family reunion I went to Saturday.

Speaking of family reunion, something really bad, or potentially bad, happened yesterday after I left. I left to go to that baby shower, and Mike stayed for about 30 more minutes then he left. When most of the people were gone, those who were left were cleaning up when they looked down at the two kids who were playing in the edge of the lake. There was only one when there should have been two and he was out in the deeper water. They went running down there and grabbed up the one, the three year old Zedediah, or Zed, for short. And when they grabbed him up, they found that he was hanging on to five year old Isabelle. She was underwater and had drown. She was gone. Dead. The yanked her out to dry ground and performed CPR on her and she was revived. Once revived, they rushed her to the hospital, which is thankfully only about 7 or 8 minutes away. They kept her only 24 hours for observation. They said she's perfectly fine, no brain damage or anything of the sort. I'm sure not too much time had lapsed before they found her and fished her out. I couldn't believe that they let a five year old and a three year old play in the water's edge by themselves in the first place. They must've just turned their back for just a tad. It doesn't take long at all, does it. But, thank God she's fine now. And will be back at Green Corn by tomorrow night. So, all is well.

It's 11:11 and all is well. Goodnight.

Change Is Good

Yes, I changed the name of my blog. The address, of course, is the same, but I was sick to death of all the keyword searches for "Love Is A Battlefield by Papoose". I also removed the side bar lyrics item, although I didn't really want to, but I'm sure that was helping the keyword searches find me. I think it might not have bothered me as much if it were people searching for Love Is A Battlefield by PAT BENTAR! Papoose. Give me a break.

****************

It is past 2:30 in the morning, what the heck am I doing up? I was sewing, and anytime I get on that kick, I stay up late. I was actually sewing a shoe. A moccasin, to be more exact. I could never find the correct type of leather, so I tried to make do with some very soft, very thin, leather. I got one moccasin done and I can already tell that it's not going to last. The material is way to thin. I need tanned hide and this stuff was more like a thin suede. I also made XXS when I should have made the XS. They are a tad too small. That's lovely, isn't it? Stay up to the wee hours of the a.m. sewing a shoe and you make it too small? Typical of me, I tell ya. Especially today, I can't seem to get anything right.

I was going to make Nikolas some moccasins out of this thin leather I have, I thought it would be perfect for him since he doesn't walk yet, anyway. But while we were in Deadwood, S.D., I found a pair of moccasins that were so dang cute, for 20 bucks. So, I bought them. I already had the seed bead medallion I wanted to sew on to the top of them. But when I tried to sew them on the other day, the needle I had was way too thin. The next day, I tried using a regular needle. Still too thin. So I went and bought a needle specifically made to sew leather. I also had to buy 6 other needles in the package to get that one leather needle. So, when I got home tonight around 10:15, I got that leather needle out to quickly sew on those beads. Yeah. It didn't happen. Mike got in on the action and he actually broke the needle. I didn't really care, it wasn't working anyway. We both tried several of the other needles but nothing worked. He ended up getting out his leather punch that he'd bought to add some hard leather on to his bike's sissy bar. I was a little nervous about punching huge holes in these moccasins since I got them in SOUTH DAKOTA and if he messed up I couldn't just run back up there and buy another pair. But he did it, and my darling husband actually sewed the seed bead medallions on to the moccasins. He did an excellent job, I might add. He knew I was getting frustrated and I was saying "JUST FORGET IT, HE DOESN'T NEED BEADS ON HIS SHOES!". Then I went and turned the thermostat down low because I was getting all hot with the frustration. When he started sewing, I left him alone. I didn't want to disturb him in case he actually got them done. And he did!

I sat in the floor and cut out my too small moccasin then came into the living room and sewed it up on the machine. Even though it's too small, I'm glad I made it because now I know I can make them and I will do things a little different next time. I don't even know if I should go ahead and make the other shoe, now. They are too small for me and would for sure be too small for Shael. They are so thin that the only place they'd be good for would be the Long House because it's smooth dirt in there, no rocks. If a person were to wear them outside and step on a rock, or even the dry grass in some places, they would be hurtin' for certain. It sure is cute though, I'll have to take a pic and post it. And of Mike's handiwork, too. I knew I married him for a reason.

Now I Remember

I finally remembered what the heck happened that I thought was so funny. It involves fortune cookies. Following the advice of my friend, Ann, which happens to be Mrs. E's mil, we always add the phrase "in bed" to the tail of any fortune from any fortune cookie. It makes them way funnier than they were ever intended to be.

Mine was only mildly amusing, some generic fortune such as "you will have great success"...."in bed". I waggled my eyebrows at Mike and said "Promise?" But I'm getting ahead of myself here. I had gone to the bathroom before everybody got up to leave, but when I came out, they were all outside waiting on me. And they were all laughing at Mike's fortune. I asked what was so funny and Mike said "Mine's gay!" I thought he was trying to be trendy, like my sister's kids, who call all things that are the slightest bit out of the ordinary "gay". But, when I read it, I knew he really meant gay. His fortune read "Behind every great man, is a group of great men"...."in bed". We all laughed and Mike rushed to the nearest trash can with this disgusted look on his face. "That's sick. That's just sick!"

***************

Well, on a completely different subject, tonight was the monthly business committee meeting for the Tribe. I went because I'd heard new and fresh rumors that I was hoping to get clarified tonight. But after an hour and 20 minutes of monotonous figures and boring estimates, I couldn't wait to get out of there. I really tried to stick it out. The deciding factor was that it was about 60 degrees where I was sitting and I could hardly think of anything but my freezing feet. I finally got up and left and when I got outside in the still 90 + degree weather, I looked down at my feet and they were literally blue. All the way up my ankles and part of my calves were blue! I knew I was cold, but I had no idea that I was that cold. I drove all the way home with the windows down and the a/c off. (btw, did I mention that I got my car back Sunday night?) I highly doubt those rumors were discussed, anyway, so I'm sure I didn't miss much. Just more facts and figures. As I was sitting there, listening to them droning on and on and on, I had this mental picture of myself, sitting in the floor with my legs crossed "indian style" (how appropriate..lol) and plucking at my lower lip with my index finger, making unintelligible noises. A business major I'd never make. See? Just thinking about it has caused me to start talking like Yoda. So, now, like the rest of the crew at work, I'll have to wait another day to find out if I still have a job.

I have a three day weekend coming up this weekend. Next week is GREEN CORN! Can I get a "Woo-Woo"? The first day of Green Corn is a paid holiday for us Tribal workers. I had one parent a couple weeks ago say "What the heck is green corn and why aren't you guys open that day?" The accent is on the word "Green" so it's pronounced GREEN Corn and that lady put the accent on the word "corn" so it sounded really funny.

Green Corn, a time when all the members come together and celebrate. To tell the truth, I don't think I ever see any (or many) of these trouble maker members show their face at Green Corn. One woman, named Cotton, who has to be the ugliest woman I have ever laid eyes on, she's always there with her kids and grandkids, but other than that, those people who like to bitch and moan to us "locals", as they like to call us, about never being informed about anything because they live in Pawhuska, they never come to any of our ceremonies. That right there tells me that they aren't really interested in being a Tribal "member" and participating in any of our rituals and/or customs, all they want is money. It all boils down to money. Where's their money, when are they going to get their money? Not many of us "locals" talk like that. There's a few, don't get me wrong, but for the most part, we locals are the ones who keep traditions alive by plugging on even in the hard times. Someone told me the other day that the current Chief is not even welcome at Green Corn this year and if he has the balls to show his face the pothangers and faith keepers are going to kindly ask him to get out. They, with their beefed up security, will escort him to the gate. Now how sad is that, that the CHIEF cannot go to his own Tribe's main ceremonial?

Sad.

Very sad.

Please

This one is for my Hillbilly Mom cyber friend. I'll try my hardest not to piss you off.

*********************

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I cannot accept,

and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had

to kill today because they pissed me off.

And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on

today as they may be connected to the ass that I may

have to kiss tomorrow.

And help me to remember....

When I'm having a really bad day, and it seems that

people are trying to piss me off, that it takes 42 muscles

to frown and only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell

them to bite me!